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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

I found yet another pasta recipe on Pinterest. The recipe uses bow tie pasta but the Boyfriend & I both thought that it was kind of plain & boring. So to dress it up, I got a couple packages of ready to heat tortellini from Trader Joe's as a substitute.

So here is what I needed...

1 package of Trader Giotto's Spinach Tortellini

1 package of Trader Giotto's Cheese Tortellini

4 gloves garlic, minced

1 large shallot, medium diced

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 package baby portobello, sliced

1 big bunch spinach, stemmed & halved

Salt & black pepper to taste

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

This was really quick...

Boil a big pot of water & cook the tortellini according to the packages

We have pasta about once a week nowadays and so I've been browsing for inspiration all over the place. I found this recipe on Pinterest but it wouldn't quite work the way it was since the Boyfriend doesn't eat shrimp. As luck would have it, lobster tails were on sale @ Safeway so I thought, why not?

Before doing anything else, prep the lobster tails...
Remove the lobster tails from their shells
Rinse the tails to get rid of any gunk that might be left over
Rub the tails with salt & rinse them thoroughly
Place tails into a bowl of ice water & keep in the fridge until ready to use

Now onto the actual dish...
Start cooking the pasta according to the instructions on the package (-1 min)
Over low heat, sauté the shallot, garlic, red pepper flakes, & lemon zest in oil
Add in the tomatoes, season with salt & pepper, & continue to cook for 3 minutes
Remove the lobster tails from the ice water & cut them into big chunks
Add in the lobster meat & immediately reduce the heat to low
Drain the pasta and add it to the pan of sauce; add in spinach and gently wilt them
Remove from heat as soon as the lobster tails turn pink & toss in the lemon juice

And there it is! I served the pasta with a bit of grated Parmesan on top for a little bit more salt. Overall the dish was really light but had a lot of flavor & the lobster tail worked out really well. I don't know if I will be making this dish this way all the time since the 2 tiny lobster tails cost $10 while on sale, but I can see myself making this again perhaps using crab meat, chicken, or just keeping it meatless.